


Monkey See, Monkey Q

by lori (zakhad), zakhad



Series: Captain and Counselor [48]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-26 16:48:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14406324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zakhad/pseuds/lori, https://archiveofourown.org/users/zakhad/pseuds/zakhad
Summary: Q has had a fascination for Picard. It runs in the family. The next generation learns how to do things the more tedious, less flashy way.This is part of a very long series. If you haven't read other stories featuring Yves Picard, you may be a little confused.





	Monkey See, Monkey Q

"His father and I are such good friends, I'm certain you'll find him entertaining," Q said gleefully.

He had materialized in the quarters of Jean-Luc Picard, and his son Q Junior was there with him. Junior had pestered him -- that Janeway woman had spoiled the boy for good, he suspected. Junior wouldn't stop talking about wanting more friends, outside the Continuum at that, and finding human companions he could trust was a daunting prospect. The only human of nearly-sufficient morality that might be a good option was dear old Jean-Luc -- or, perhaps, someone with fewer prejudices against him. The younger Picard no doubt would be similar to the older in ethics, but might be more open to contact. Maybe, just maybe, the younger generation would get off on the right foot.

The younger Picard's room was full of colorful toys and there was some sort of wooden cage standing in the middle. Junior wandered over and peered into it. "I think he's not old enough," he said.

Q flashed across the six feet of floor and stood over the tiny humanoid laying on his back, regarding them with hazel eyes. The baby kicked his feet and blew a raspberry. They'd dressed the boy in a green unitard -- what was it with humans and single-piece clothing, so monotonous and boring. Q sighed heavily and tsked. "Quite right. We'll find him sometime after he can talk, shall we?"

 

* * *

 

 

Q and his son appeared in the quarters of Jean-Luc Picard, in his son's room. The room was different now, with more toys and decorations. There was also a dog present. The big red mongrel stood up and started to bark.

"Oh, be quiet," Q exclaimed, raising a hand to banish the dog to the outer edge of the Milky Way. But he hesitated. The dog obeyed, sat down, and stared at him.

"Dad, I don't think this is right, either," Junior said. He was standing next to a little bed. There was a toddler sitting in it, staring with big hazel eyes at them.

When Q took a step, the dog rapidly moved to block him, then leaped on the bed with the child. The Picard boy immediately threw his arms around the dog's neck.

Q cocked his head. "How old are you?"

The boy kept staring at him. "Papa," he said, clutching the dog's neck.

"Dad," Junior chided. The boy would be that troublesome that he'd care about not disrupting things. He wanted a friend, not the antagonistic back-and-forth he'd seen between his "Aunt Kathy" and Q.

"Oh, _fine,_ we'll try again."

 

* * *

 

 

Q and his son appeared in the quarters of Jean-Luc Picard.

There was a different look to the room -- the furnishings had changed. The bed was green, instead of the blue from last time. There were fewer toy animals in sight, and a few small replicas of those primitive little vessels that Starfleet insisted they needed to ride around in. But no boy.

"At least the dog isn't here," Junior said.

The door opened and a taller version of the Picard boy came in, stopping in his tracks the instant he saw them. "Who are you?"

The younger Picard was calm, curious, not at all defensive. Q grinned. "Why, I'm a friend of your father's, and this is my son. He's here to meet you."

He studied Junior, who was smiling tentatively. "What's your name?"

"I'm pleased to meet you." Junior held out his hand. He'd been schooled not to immediately identify himself, in hopes that they would be able to make contact first.

The boy hesitated, but slowly reached to shake the offered hand. "I'm Yves. I didn't hear you come in. How'd you get in here?"

"I see your father hasn't told you about Q," Q said. "Q do not need doors."

The boy turned and before either of them could say anything, he ran out of the room. Q winced; he'd blown it. A minute later, Jean-Luc arrived -- in a different uniform than last time, a black and gray number with a red undershirt. "Out," he said firmly, angrily.

"Jean-Luc! I don't believe you've met my son," Q exclaimed, waving at Junior, who like him wore a nondescript gray outfit so as not to cause the boy any anxiety.

"I don't care," Jean-Luc shouted, red-faced and jabbing a finger at Q. "Do not speak to my son again! Get off my ship!"

In a nanosecond, Q sized it up -- Junior's wary look, the extreme anger in Jean-Luc's face -- why, the captain seemed on the verge of panic! Completely unlike the captain he'd confronted before. Of course. There was that instinct he'd heard about -- these primitive creatures were fierce about their children. It was against Junior's wishes to provoke. Not friendly to stay where they were not wanted.

In a flash, Q and his son were gone without further wasted talk.

 

* * *

 

Junior watched and waited, and chose his opportunity carefully. He'd done a little more research -- somewhere other than the bedroom would be better, less of a violation, so he waited in a corridor. At thirteen, the boy walked alone to Ten Forward after school without the smaller children on certain days, so Junior chose that time of day to be present and discernible.

Yves Picard stopped in his tracks and stared at him.

"Hi," Q said. "I really do just want to be your friend."

"My father said that isn't likely. That you're up to something, and I shouldn't trust you," Yves said.

"I come back later and later because I wanted you to understand what I was trying to do -- I came before when you were too young. I'm sorry I upset your father."

The boy had dark curly hair and wore a red shirt. He studied Q for a minute, frowning.

"If you want me to leave, I'll go. But I'd like to talk to you. If I was really up to something, would I just leave every time? I didn't bring my father because your father said he shouldn't speak to you again. He didn't say anything about me."

Yves frowned. It was a tenuous loophole -- Q had known better than to think it hadn't been directed at both of them. But he hoped. Yves crossed his arms, and considered it, which was more than he'd done before.

"So what exactly would being your friend mean? You don't go to my school. We can't spend hours and hours together. If you're on the ship someone will see you and I'll get in trouble, if you take me anywhere I get in trouble."

"Nope -- I can take you anywhere and have you back whenever you like. I'm skipping forward in time to find you at a point where you're willing to talk, I can skip back."

"I don't know -- I can't lie to my parents."

"They don't need to know."

Yves narrowed his eyes. "Every time I think I can get away with something, I don't. You don't know my mother."

"I can manage it," Q said, smiling. "I know my dad wasn't your dad's best friend ever, but has he ever done anything to him?" It was obvious that Yves had been warned and told a lot about the Q, judging from the way he was balking at having anything to do with him. "Don't you think your dad would've told you about that if he had?"

"Probably. I'm supposed to be somewhere -- let me think about it."

"You want me to come back. When?"

"Maybe day after tomorrow." Yves walked off and left him there.

Junior vanished, to contemplate this exchange. It was clear that he was making progress, but it was so slow! He thought about his time with Captain Janeway, and what he had learned about humanity while on her ship. Maybe there was something else to do to accelerate this process of making friends without cheating.

 

* * *

 

"If you need anything, contact us," the commander said. She was very pretty, with her dark eyes and curly hair.

Junior smiled at her and nodded. "Thank you, Commander Troi."

"If you get along with the children well enough we might put you on our regular schedule of babysitters." She turned when the younger sister approached, wearing yet another dress, this one in pink and green. "That's very pretty, Amy. You should wear that one."

"But you haven't seen the purple one," Amy exclaimed. She shot a begging look at Junior. "You want to see it? My grandmother sent it all the way from Betazed!"

"I would like to see it very much."

Thus encouraged, the little girl bounded off to her room again, her reddish-browh hair in a dissolving bun on top of her head. She looked about seven, and wasn't thinking anything of a new babysitter. "She's cute," Junior said. "Does she have favorite games?"

"I'm sure she'll tell you all about them. Yves! Come out here, please, and meet Ensign Quaid."

Yves came out as requested, and Junior braced himself -- this was a few years prior to his last meeting with the boy, but it was likely that he would remember Junior from the encounter he'd had with him as a toddler. The Betazoid species apparently had better recall of earlier memories than humans.

"Hi," Yves said, staring at him. He seemed to be trying to figure out something.

"The ensign will be here until you go to bed. Your papa and I will be home late."

"What about Nat?" Yves asked.

"Natalia will be busy." Troi went to kiss her son on the forehead, nodded to Junior and left the spacious quarters. She was wearing a dress herself, something green.

It had been a straightforward if tedious process, getting everything lined up to create a situation where he was able to be here -- but Aunt Kathy had prepared him well. The only fib had been inserting Ensign Bob Quaid into the crew manifest -- as much as he wanted to be up front and as natural as possible, going through the Academy was just unrealistic, especially when it was unlikely that he could make the cut -- apparently the _Enterprise_ was a coveted assignment. Volunteering to babysit had led to a long waiting period, until the main babysitter, Greenman, had been unavailable and the alternates also busy.

It meant seven weeks of being an ensign in a minor position in sciences but the work was a piece of cake. Nothing at all to a Q, to study spatial anomalies and talk about them in reports. He kept to himself. Didn't go out with the guys after shift -- in fact, he had quarters that he never visited, and dematerialized entirely until his next shift. His father, Q, was amused by all the trouble he was going to, but continuing to monitor and go along with the plan. As long as Junior didn't blow up any planets or cause any interstellar wars, he said.

Junior smiled at Amy, returning with the purple dress on -- and then the dog came out, with the twin toddlers. It stood there staring at him, the long tail ceased its wagging, and then the long canine head turned to look at Yves.

"Do you remember him, Fidele?" Yves asked. The boy should be ten, by now.

"I do," the dog replied. "He has been here before. He was not wearing a uniform, however."

The dog was mechanical, Junior could tell that much, but it hadn't been obvious that it could _talk_. "I'm just here to babysit. Want to play a game?"

The younger Yves didn't hesitate. He didn't seem entirely convinced, but his mother had just left him there with Ensign Quaid, so he went along with it.

It was an unremarkable few hours playing games with smaller children than he liked to spend time with. But it was groundwork, and important. He'd learned that humans required time and effort. Yves was in bed by the time Troi and Picard returned, and it caused Junior some anxiety to be there when Picard came in -- but the man his father had taunted in the past seemed tired, and maybe Junior's shorter hairstyle and the slightly-older version of his face were dissimilar enough to his appearance when Yves was a toddler that Picard didn't remember him.

"Thank you, Ensign," the captain said with a slight, formal smile. Fidele emerged from the side corridor to the children's rooms, and wagged his tail at the sight of them. The dog looked at Junior, back at the parents -- sat down. Perhaps gleaning from the lack of anxiety that Junior was trustworthy. He hoped so.

"They're asleep -- you did very well," Troi said. "I know Yves was a little suspicious at first for some reason, but it seems to have gone quite well. I'll keep you in mind for future babysitting opportunities, if you don't mind."

"Not at all," Junior said with a smile. "It was fun." He left their quarters, went far enough down the corridor that the door closed, and flashed away into the universe at large.

He returned the following shift, and waited. A few more babysitting stints and he could log a transfer to a starbase or something, and move on.

 

* * *

 

Junior returned to meet with the thirteen year old Yves, the day after meeting him in the corridor. When he was corporeal that was difficult to think through so he shook off the particulars and focused on the present.

"Hi," he said, approaching the boy with a smile.

Yves stared at him, and smiled. "Ensign Quaid, I presume. But you look younger. How does that work?"

"I'm going to be your friend, Picard," Junior said with a grin.

"You keep saying that. But you still deceived my parents."

Junior shrugged. "Your father isn't about to let me spend any time at all trying to convince him that I mean it. Is he?"

Yves shook his head. "But he's telling the truth, when he tells me Q are dangerous."

Junior raised his hands, spread them wide, in that gesture that said surrender. "Am I telling the truth when I say that we can be, but we're not going to cause you any harm?"

"You think you aren't. I've heard about the Borg."

"So have I but not terribly interested in going there. I don't have to be like my dad, y'know. 'Cause, not him." They stared at each other for a bit and then Yves shrugged. Junior sighed. "It's interesting. You can sense what I feel?"

"Sort of. It's different with a Q."

"Huh." Junior thought about this situation. "So, are you planning to be Starfleet, when you're older?"

"Why? Are you looking for a captain of your own to annoy?"

The sarcasm was promising. Junior grinned. "I told you."

"Do Q even have friends?"

"Not in the same way as humans. But I'm learning. I have human friends. My father says that I'm a quick study. Want to go somewhere fun?"

There was a moment when it seemed he was about to give in. But Yves shook his head, spun on a heel, and walked away. "Maybe later."

"That's just a way to say no without saying no, isn't it?"

Yves glanced back but kept going -- gave him just enough time to see the smirk before he rounded the corner, and was gone.

Junior sighed, and vanished.

 

* * *

 

 

Three days later, Junior put on the latest version of the uniform, a single pip, and walked down the corridor as if he belonged there. Yves was right on schedule. They stopped and studied each other from three paces, and Junior smiled first.

"Do you have a name?" Yves asked.

"It's just Q. Sorry."

Yves shrugged. "I could call you something else. Why are you doing this?"

"Why does the Federation keep sending diplomats out to visit people?"

Yves' eyebrows climbed. "To make new alliances with people so we don't end up in more battles? To study new cultures? To set up trade agreements?"

"Yeah, well, I guess you could say I'm studying your culture, but not really since my dad did that. I just want a friend, is what I'm saying."

"Okay... you could have just said that." Yves started to walk again, sidling around Junior to continue down the corridor.

"Hey," Junior protested, turning to walk with him. "Where you going?"

"I have some friends waiting on the holodeck -- we're going to try a few old ball games, Terran style," Yves said.

Junior waited, but no invitation was forthcoming. He stopped walking. "Okay. Have fun."

At the end of the corridor, Yves turned around, and they looked at each other again. Yves said, "So you just want to spend some time hanging out?"

"Pretty much. Not like I haven't done it before." He thought about mentioning _Voyager_ but decided not to - he could predict what Aunt Kathy would say. This had to be something that developed on its own.

"So you should have a name, if you want to play ball with us, because it's weird to not have a name," Yves said.

Junior grinned and jogged over to catch up, and walk with him again. "What do you suggest?"

"How about... Francis?"

Junior wrinkled his nose. "What?"

"Claude?"

They reached a lift and went in, joining an officer. Yves greeted the ensign and said nothing else, until the door opened again on deck ten. The officer left them there, and the lift went on to deck eleven.

"What do you want to call yourself, then, if you don't like anything I suggest?"

"How about Quentin?"

Yves grinned. "Okay. You might not want to wear the uniform, if you want to fit in."

He snapped his fingers -- the flash came and went, and he wore a silver, black and gray jumpsuit not unlike the one Yves wore.

"And you're not going to do anything weird, like turn me into a dog?"

"Not today. Can't tell about tomorrow...."

 

* * *

 

 

"Hi," Yves said when he came around the corner and saw Junior standing in the corridor. "What's up? I haven't seen you in a while."

For a few months, Junior had spent time here and there with the older children of the _Enterprise_ , but tried not to show up when Yves was on his way to do that -- it wouldn't do for the crew to start questioning how some kid was visiting the ship when it was so far from the nearest starbase. Luckily the kids mostly accepted him at face value.

"Just busy. Q stuff. I thought I'd see if you wanted to come somewhere with me for a change. There's this planet with singing cliffs -- the wind in the rock spires -- "

"Not unless I get permission to go."

Junior exhaled -- this was so tedious. "I can -- "

" -- have me back the second I left, I know. You don't know my mother. And I don't like hiding things from my parents."

"Doesn't every teenager lie sometimes? Isn't it part of the human experience, sneaking out once in a while, testing limits, pushing boundaries -- come on, Yves, let's go windsailing in the pinnacles of Delinia Major, surfing on Penthus Prime -- "

" -- finishing my math homework and watching the twins while my mom chases my dad around a holodeck," Yves said. "Which is fine, because it probably means we'll get to -- "

"Oh, come on," Junior exclaimed, finally losing his patience. Months, he'd put up with the mundane and boring -- months of groundwork, throwing stupid balls around with kids who didn't know they were tossing it to one of the most powerful entities in the universe. "I'm hurt! Wounded, I tell you! You _know_ I'm not going to do anything against your will, and I'll bring you back, no problem. You could literally go anywhere in the Federation or beyond, and you want to sit at home with a couple of little kids who bicker and throw things, and a sister who teases you and talks endlessly about Betazed, and a toy dog."

Yves said nothing, and marched onward, a little faster than before. When Junior sped up, he sped up again.

"Okay," Junior exclaimed. "I'm sorry. I know, you care that much about your family. But it's not like they'll even notice you're gone! I'm not even asking you to make a real choice!"

Yves spun on his heel, inspiring hope, but then Junior noticed the anger on his face. "You're going to take me off the ship, my mother knows when that happens, and then even if you do manage to hide that from her she always asks me what I did today. Which if I am hiding something she knows that too. So how do you think she'll react if I tell her I went windsailing on some planet we've never heard of?"

Junior gaped for a few seconds. "What if we went somewhere you've heard of, and -- okay. We'll go to the holodeck," Junior gestured at the lift. "We'll go to somewhere, and I'll bring you right back to the holodeck -- we'll even let it run for a while when we get back so there's a logged usage in the computer. You can say you went to someplace on the holodeck, and that's exactly what we'll be doing."

Yves smiled, his eyebrows climbing, and for a minute Junior thought he'd succeeded. "You don't like spending time with me here?"

"Not what I said, Picard," Junior said. "But this friendship thing, it's supposed to be a two-way deal, isn't it? Don't you ever do stuff with your other friends, just because they want to do it? I can be human for a while, but don't you notice, I'm kind of not!"

Yves sighed. "Okay. A fair point."

"Okay," Junior exclaimed, waving his arms, clapping happily. "Okay. So where are we going?"

 That set off another few minutes of contemplation. "Anywhere?"

"In time, in space, wherever you like. As long as it's somewhere a Q can go." No need to go into depth about the kinds of restrictions that existed, too much for a humanoid to understand.

"Let's go play cards," Yves said.

Junior almost stumbled backward, waving his arms. " _What_? You've got to be kidding me!"

"You've been in the room with the twins. Do you see a difference between what we do with the younger kids and what we do when they aren't around?"

Junior kept shaking his head. "But you're not a little kid."

"I'm not a Q, either." 

"Your father is all about exploration and advancement, right? Why not explore with me?"

"Seems to me that offer has been made before. My father didn't take him up on that. It's like being asked to be an officer on the ship, only worse," Yves said. 

"I didn't say anything about turning you into a Q. I don't turn into a human when we play ball," Junior exclaimed, angry now. "I'm just trying to show you stuff -- take you to some new places. Try something new."

"I guess I just don't think life is that boring here," Yves said.

They stared at each other for a bit. Junior thought about commenting on how boring it truly was, but something else Janeway had said to him before made him hesitate.

"It might be differences in perspective," he said at last. 

"Might be?" Yves grinned. "I thought Q were evolved past trivialities like kadis kot, but you seemed to have fun anyway."

"I thought some humans were more evolved than others."

"Some of us are. I know kids who don't want to play kadis kot with their little brother or sister, but sometimes, tolerating boring stuff that's boring for you is what you do, if you really care about the person who enjoys it."

Junior flinched. "Hey!"

"What?" Yves cuffed his arm. 

"I'm the Q, I'm supposed to be testing you!"

"Yeah, what fun would that be? And your father literally put all of humanity on trial. I was entitled to some verification." Yves bounced on his heels, grinning, quite satisfied with himself. "So you want to try a different game? I was thinking about this one I read about, that involves hovering boards you ride around on while you try to score goals with a disc you toss through a goalpost?"

Junior grinned back at him. "On the holodeck?"

"Or you could just Q it up somewhere, I guess."

"Q it up," he scoffed, heading for the nearest lift with his friend. 

"If the point was for me to tremble in fear at the mere mention of the Q, you did it all wrong...."

"I know. I think I did it just the way I intended, though."

 


End file.
